Belt conveyers are widely used in main underground and ground coal haulage roadways, and are “main arteries” for production in coal mines, owing to their advantages such as high conveying capacity, simple structure, and long conveying distance, etc. As the most important drive component as well as the most expensive and most vulnerable component in a belt-type conveying system, a conveyer belt is often damaged owing to the impact of falling material at the head of the conveyer, bringing severe loss to the coal mine. To reduce the damage of the impact on the conveyer belt at the coal falling position, a method commonly used presently is to add buffer rollers or a buffer bed at the coal falling position at the head part of the conveyer. Wherein, buffer rollers may be damaged easily by the impact force of falling coal, owing to their small bearing points. A buffer bed must have a highly elastic special rubber layer in order to reduce the friction force between the belt and the buffer medium; therefore, the requirement for the material is high. Both of the schemes cannot meet the present requirement well.
In addition, the coal falling position belongs to a region that is directly subject to the influences of coal piling accidents of the belt conveyer. According to the Coal Mine Safety Code, protective measures for coal piling must be taken during the operation of a belt conveyer. Existing coal piling protection devices are mainly stockpiling triggering devices added at the upper port of a coal bunker or the lap joint between two belt conveyers, but such devices have problems, for example, they are susceptible to moisture influence and are not sensitive to lump coal.
Therefore, a buffering and bearing device that can resist the impact of falling coal and has less friction with the belt must be developed to alleviate the damage of the impact force of falling coal to the belt; in addition, the impact force of falling coal must be monitored effectively, in order to learn about the coal falling situation and realize coal piling protection.